Conjugations
All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to give back.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rends | I give back | |
| tu | rends | you give back | |
| il / elle / on | rend | he / she / it gives backon: we give back / one gives back | |
| nous | rendons | we give back | |
| vous | rendez | you give back | |
| ils / elles | rendent | they give back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul rend le livre à son ami.
Paul gives back the book to his friend.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai rendu | I gave back | |
| tu | as rendu | you gave back | |
| il / elle / on | a rendu | he / she / it gave backon: we gave back / one gave back | |
| nous | avons rendu | we gave back | |
| vous | avez rendu | you gave back | |
| ils / elles | ont rendu | they gave back |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a rendu le livre à son ami.
Yesterday, Paul gave back the book to his friend.
The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rendais | I used to give back | |
| tu | rendais | you used to give back | |
| il / elle / on | rendait | he / she / it used to give backon: we used to give back / one used to give back | |
| nous | rendions | we used to give back | |
| vous | rendiez | you used to give back | |
| ils / elles | rendaient | they used to give back |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul rendait le livre à son ami.
Back then, Paul used to give back the book to his friend.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rendrai | I will give back | |
| tu | rendras | you will give back | |
| il / elle / on | rendra | he / she / it will give backon: we will give back / one will give back | |
| nous | rendrons | we will give back | |
| vous | rendrez | you will give back | |
| ils / elles | rendront | they will give back |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul rendra le livre à son ami.
Later, Paul will give back the book to his friend.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rendrais | I would give back | |
| tu | rendrais | you would give back | |
| il / elle / on | rendrait | he / she / it would give backon: we would give back / one would give back | |
| nous | rendrions | we would give back | |
| vous | rendriez | you would give back | |
| ils / elles | rendraient | they would give back |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul rendrait le livre à son ami.
Paul would give back the book to his friend.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | rende | (that) I give back | |
| tu | rendes | (that) you give back | |
| il / elle / on | rende | (that) he / she / it gives backon: (that) we give back / one gives back | |
| nous | rendions | (that) we give back | |
| vous | rendiez | (that) you give back | |
| ils / elles | rendent | (that) they give back |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul rende le livre à son ami.
It is possible that Paul gives back the book to his friend.
French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”
Meaning & usage
- to give back
- to return, to restore, to give back
- to repay; to reciprocate (an action, emotions)
English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗
Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations